by R. J. Ross
The irate looking man starts to say something, only to give up as he checks his watch, walking away while muttering under his breath. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Falconess says, smiling slightly as she holds out a hand.
I blink at the hand and look at Nico. “What sort of lie did you tell her?” I ask him bluntly.
“Not a thing,” he says before waving over my head. “Ditto, c’mere, kid,” he calls. “Technically there’s only one of her, but you’ll be dealing with more, obviously,” he adds as Ditto drapes herself over my shoulder. Then she sees the mini-me blonde.
‘Aw, man,’ I hear her think darkly.
I try not to snort as I scoot over so she can sit down next to me. “This is Ditto,” I say. “Ditto, this is--”
“Melissa,” Falconess says, “and my daughter, Keliah,” she adds, motioning to the sour looking girl sitting next to her. Keliah barely glances at me before looking over at the group again. “Technico has been talking to me about being your mentor,” she says, looking from me to Ditto and back.
I blink, forgetting about Keliah entirely as I take in the idea of having Falconess as a mentor. “Um... I...” I hesitate, wondering how best to put this, “thought that... Jeanie would be?” I ask Nico.
“She offered,” he says, “but Jeanie’s a heavy hitter--I’m not saying that you won’t have a decent punch, but you’ll never be a tank,” Nico says. “You need someone that’s got creation abilities, Em. Melissa here is the best choice, and trust me, I looked into it. I even checked the other branches.”
“I had to go through an intense interview from Liz, as well,” Melissa says with an amused smile. “She’s very protective of you and your sisters.” She looks at Ditto, pointedly, who blushes slightly since her swimsuit top is still showing. “Plus, when I’ve been asked to train a future Liberty, and an adopted Superior, there’s no question that I have to bring my A game. I expect you to, as well,” she finishes pointedly.
“We know what we’ve gotten ourselves into,” Ditto says boldly, making me glance over at her with a tiny smile. “We’re punks and troublemakers once in a while, but we know what we’re in for--it’s hard not to when Liz comes home in the middle of the night looking exhausted. If she gets tired, we’ll probably get ran over--”
“Liz gets tired because she relies on her wiretripping too much,” Nico says.
“Regardless,” Melissa says, “it’s good to see you’ve got an idea of what’s going to happen when you’re working.”
Keliah lets out a scoffing sound. “I’m going to go play some games,” she says, getting up from her bench and walking away. Melissa turns, watching her for a moment before turning back to me.
“We’ll be working together three days a week,” she says. “Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I expect you to be there on time and behave properly. Have you discussed her first debut?” she asks Nico.
“Yeah,” Nico says, motioning over to the group. “Ace, get over here,” he says.
The tall, pale goth boy stands, shoving his black hair out of his face as he walks over. “Yeah?” he asks. I like Ace. He agreed to go along with me for this, after all.
“Ace has agreed to the debut,” Nico says as Ditto shoots Ace a brilliant grin. “Jack offered, though, right?” he asks me.
“Yeah,” I say.
“Em chose Ace.”
“I have to admit, being able to choose your debut villain is a nice aspect of your school,” Falconess says. “I look forward to working with you, as well, Ace,” she says, holding out a hand. He takes it, and I swear there’s a faint blush on his face as they shake.
“Melissa will be mentoring Em,” Nico explains.
“So ah, when do I get a super sexy mentor?” Ace asks Nico, making Melissa laugh.
“You’re stuck with your dad for now--although I’ve heard he still has a decent sized fan club, so who knows, someone might consider him super sexy.” By the look on both Nico and Ace’s faces, neither of them do.
I snicker. “Yeah, I’m sure someone does,” I tell them, getting to my feet. “But I promised the girls a dance, so, um, nice to meet you, Melissa, and I’ll see you on Monday, right?” I say, holding out my hand to Falconess. I’m going to have a mentor! Sure, it’s not exactly what I had planned, but I think it’ll go okay.
I hope.
“I’ll see you on Monday,” she agrees, shaking my hand. I head back to my table, where Carla and Malina are looking impatient, and grab their hands.
“Let’s go dance!” I say, tugging them to the dance floor.
***
“So how’d you like her?” Liz asks, draped over my shoulder in a hug as I look at the various food products laid out in front of me. Jeanie prepped them, and is waiting patiently for me to put them together, but it’s hard to concentrate on cooking classes when Liz is being like this.
“She seems nice,” I say as I wipe the pan down with cooking oil. “Ditto doesn’t like the daughter, though.”
“She’s a snot,” Ditto says from where she’s munching on a celery stick rather than helping, “and I caught her staring at Jack a few times. I don’t trust her,” she declares.
“She did?” Aubrey asks. She’s sitting on the stool at the bar, doing her homework. “You don’t think she likes him, do you?” she asks, looking worried.
“It doesn’t matter, Jack’s yours,” Ditto assures her. “He didn’t notice at all--he was too busy shoving pizza into his mouth.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Aubrey says. “Even I can barely get his attention when it’s time to eat.”
“But you CAN, and that’s the important part,” Ditto says. “We can barely get an answer from Trent when he’s eating, and there are two of us,” she adds, motioning to herself and me.
“Nico practically kidnapped the place and Trent was too busy eating to notice,” I agree as I lay out the green beans in the pan, looking at the recipe with a slight frown. “Are you sure this is going to work?” I ask Jeanie.
“Trust me, I’ve done it lots of times,” she says. “You’re doing wonderfully!”
I put green beans in a pan, I think dryly. It’s not exactly rocket science. I reach for the chicken next, lining them up next to the green beans. “I talked Vinny into letting me watch him cook lunch sometime,” I tell Jeanie. “That’s okay, right?”
“It’s wonderful! Can I come with you?” she asks.
“Um, I’ll ask him,” I say. I want to say, “Yeah, sure!” but Vinny’s not exactly that easy to read. He could get really offended by me dragging people in without asking, then I won’t get to go--and like I’ve said several times, I burn all the things. I need all the help I can get.
“Now the potatoes and the butter,” Jeanie prompts when I just stare at the chicken for a long moment, “but wash your hands first!” I do as she tells me, hoping that for the first time I’ll be able to make something honestly edible. The family’s been eating a lot of stuff that would probably kill them if they were norms thanks to me. Trent doesn’t say a word. Jack does take a second to look at me pointedly before eating it, anyway. But Jeanie keeps insisting that the families eat together whenever I cook.
“So what’s wrong with the daughter, other than the Jack thing?” Liz asks, leaving me and draping herself over Ditto, instead. I think it’s her habit of being so huggy all the time that’s got me doing it. “Should I have a talk with her?”
“She’s rude,” Ditto says, leaning back into the hug. “She reminds me of the sisters, but we could totally kick her butt, right Em?”
“Definitely,” I agree.
“How old is she, anyway?” Aubrey asks, clearly still focused on the “Jack” part of the conversation. “She looked young to me, like thirteen or fourteen?”
I just turned fifteen about a week ago, but Aubrey’s almost seventeen--Jack IS seventeen, so if she is thirteen she’s way too young, right? “Dunno, we can ask Nico if you want,” I offer.
“As long as she looks and doesn’t
touch I can deal with it,” Aubrey says, looking like a martyr. I roll my eyes. “But I’m kind of worried,” she goes on, “I spend so much time working at the ER. I feel like I’m neglecting him or something.”
“Don’t worry about that, sweetie, Jack knows just how important what you do is,” Jeanie says, handing me the cut potatoes for the next section of the meal. I put them in. “He owes his life to it.”
A knock comes from the door and we glance up as the guys walk in. “Is Em cooking?” Jack asks as he heads to the bar, dropping down on the stool next to Aubrey’s to watch. “Think she’ll catch the kitchen on fire again?”
“Jack, don’t tease her about that,” Ken says, coming over and dropping a hand on my shoulder. “You’ll do just fine, Emily. And if you do catch it on fire we’ll be quick to put it out, I promise.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I drawl, pouring the melted butter over it before sprinkling the seasoning on top.
“Now cover it with aluminum foil and put it in the oven, honey! After an hour we’ll take the foil off and leave it in fifteen more minutes, so check the clock!” Jeanie says. She looks far too happy over me putting some pre-prepared food pieces in a pan. Okay, so I’m feeling a little proud of myself as well. So sue me. I feel a grin stretching across my face as I slide the pan into the oven and glance at the clock.
“I did it!” I say.
“Not till it’s fully cooked you haven’t,” Jack says. “Hey, Aub, can I see your math homework?” he asks.
“Have you even started your own?” she asks, only to slide her notebook over.
“I hear you met Melissa today,” Ken says to me. “Have you decided if she’ll be your mentor yet?”
“Yeah,” I say, grinning slightly. “I mean, I was hoping for Jeanie, but Nico says I’ll never be able to hit as hard as she can.”
There’s a tiny bit of red across Jeanie’s face at that, and she tosses me a chagrined smile. “Well, it’s true, I’m afraid--but I’m sure you’ll do just fine! You just need to remember to make it look good while you’re doing it,” she adds with a firm nod.
No, seriously, I’m picturing her punching tanks as practice. There should be a mirror to the side so she could check her stance as she sends it flying. This is Jeanie. It could totally happen. “We’ll work on it!” Ditto says cheerfully. I wonder where I can get a mirror big enough...
“So Nico kidnapped an entire restaurant at lunch today,” Trent says casually. “Thankfully Em talked him out of it--I think that should count as her unofficial debut, don’t you?” I turn bright red, feeling the urge to hide at that compliment.
“It’s not that big of a deal,” I say, even as the group congratulates me. I’d mentioned it before, but I think they thought I was exaggerating. I do that sometimes. “He didn’t want anyone taking our pictures, so he was going to make all the norms hand over their phones--which he doesn’t have to do, right? So I talked him out of it.”
“And where were you during this?” Ken asks Trent.
“It was Funhouse,” Trent says with a shrug. “Where do you think I was?”
“Eating pizza,” the room says dryly.
“We had meat lovers,” he agrees. “Em did it perfectly, so there’s no problem, right? I bet it really impressed Falconess,” he adds grinning at me.
I give him a shy grin, knowing that I’m blushing, then put my hands on my hips and give him a haughty look. “Just because mister super hero is too busy shoving pizza into his face to do his job doesn’t mean I am!” I declare.
The group starts to laugh, making me smile proudly as Ken ruffles my hair. “Good job, Emily,” he says, “you’re going to be a great super hero.”
“Yeah,” I say. “I hope so, at least.”
CHAPTER THREE
“I’m so proud of you!” Aubrey says, hugging me from behind as we pick up our empty plates and head for the kitchen. “It was good!”
“Yeah,” I say, blushing slightly at the praise. “But I didn’t really do much--“
“You did good!” Aubrey says firmly. “I’ll do the dishes,” she volunteers.
“No, you won’t,” Jeanie says. “Honey, weren’t you planning on going back to the ER tonight?” she asks. “We can handle the dishes--“
Someone knocks on the door, making us all look up as it opens. “Hey,” Nico says as he sticks his head in. “Can I talk to my sister and the girls for a bit?”
I look at the dishes in my hands and sigh, handing them to Trent and looking over at Liz. Liz is frowning slightly, so I’m a bit worried, as well. Usually when Nico shows up she gets happy. Something about his tone seems to have triggered a reaction.
“We’ll be right back,” Aubrey says to Jack, patting him on the shoulder as we head out the door. Nico has a frown on his face as he looks at her, and he lets out a heavy sigh before speaking.
“Unfortunately someone let it out that we’ve got a healer--Century’s out to borrow Aubrey for a few days to heal up half of his team,” he says, looking at Liz. “No one told the girl that knocked Mega out this morning that Flameblaster was coming up here for Vinny’s training, she got a little irritated.”
“But she’s still--“ Liz starts out quickly.
“I’m not a child,” Aubrey says, taking a deep breath and letting it out as a sigh. “I’m not completely finished with the dog--I’ve got him stabilized, though, and you were going to talk to Star Born about a cure, right?” she asks Nico.
“Yeah, I am.”
“Then during that time I can go down and heal them--I can’t leave them understaffed during the summer,” she says. “But--“ she hesitates and looks back at the door behind us before turning to me. “Em?” she asks, moving closer to cup her hands around my ear. “Can you protect Jack from that girl for me? If she can cook I’ll be in trouble.”
“You won’t be in trouble,” I protest, “but I’ll guard him with my life,” I add seriously. It’s not because I’m that big of a fan of Jack. I like him well enough, I guess, but I’m doing this because he makes Aubrey happy. I love Aubrey. If she wants me to protect her boyfriend from prospective boyfriend snatchers, I’ll do exactly that! “You be safe, okay?” I say, hugging her tightly.
“Of course I will,” Aubrey says, hugging me back. “You’re the best sister ever,” she adds, holding onto me tightly for a moment. Honestly, I don’t see Jack being stupid enough to stray, but I’m going to do the work regardless. We can’t have people thinking that our boys are up for grabs when we’re off doing work!
This means WAR.
***
Aubrey left last night, leaving me to knock on the boys’ door the next morning. I don’t blink as Zoe stops behind me, ruffling my hair fondly. “I heard about Aubrey,” she says gently as I turn to her. “She’s going to be just fine.”
“I know,” I say, turning to her with a little grin. “I’m just feeling a little lonely. She’ll be back in no time, though.”
“Aww,” Zoe says, hugging me. I hug her back, putting one foot in the air behind me in a silly pose even as the door opens. “Em, you’re just so adorable!” she says.
“So are you!” I reply.
“Ahem,” Trent says from the door, leaning against the frame as we just stand there, hugging.
“Trent!” Sunny says sleepily, pushing past us. “You’re just so adorable!” He holds out his arm--and as if that weren’t enough, he puts his foot up behind him just like I’m doing. Trent just stares at him.
“If you’re not going to knock him over, can I?” Jack asks as he steps out with a piece of bacon in his mouth.
“Sure,” Trent says. “When he drops you get to carry him,” he adds as he grabs my hand, pulling me--and subsequently Zoe--down the hall to the stairs. I let out a laugh, tightening my hold on Zoe’s hand as we head down the stairs.
“HEY! I DIDN’T AGREE TO THAT!” Jack bellows down the stairs. We ignore him, stepping out of the apartment and stopping to wait for Nico. He’s not much of a morning person.
“So do you know for sure how long she’s going to be gone?” Zoe asks as we watch Jack come down the steps, shrugging Sunny off every time the shorter male tries to jump on his back.
“I’m not carrying your lazy butt down the stairs,” Jack says as Sunny jumps on his back, clinging like a monkey. “Giddoff!”
“No way, I want a ride on your surfboard today,” Sunny says, only to yawn loudly in Jack’s ear. “You promise me that and I’ll get off--no tossing me or anything, though.”
“Fine, now giddoff,” Jack mutters.
“Hey, hey, you lonely now that your girl is gone to Texas?” Sunny asks him as he hops off. “You can hang out with me!”
“I’m not that desperate,” Jack says.
“Ouch,” Sunny says. “You’re still a jerk, you know?”
“I know,” Jack says as Nico steps into view holding his usual cup of coffee. He passes us without a word, bringing up the panel that lets us out. We take turns pressing our hands to it and dancing over the lit footsteps that lead the way out of the security field that surrounds our apartment building.
“This morning, we’ll be getting a new student,” Nico says as we start for the Death Canyon. The fading yellow police tape has fallen almost completely by now, but it doesn’t matter, no norms come near the place. They’re afraid of radiation poisoning--it’s a long story. There are a handful of retired heroes flying overhead, their suitcases hanging from their fingers even though they’re in full uniform. It’s a bit strange, but I’m so used to the sight that I don’t even blink. It’s the sight of Falconess carrying Keliah across the sky that has me staring. “Also, Emily, you’ll spend your morning hour with Falconess,” Nico adds as we reach the pair.
“Good morning,” Falconess says as Keliah slips out of her hold with a scowl on her pretty face.
